Touch-screen GameBoy Color

$145.00 buy now This unique modification involves a touch-screen module for the GameBoy Color, technicically possible for any system from the GameBoy Advance to the GP32.

Product.Description

Features:

• Touch screen panel installed on a GameBoy Color
• "Touch" controls, areas on screen correspond to direction and action buttons
• Full screen touch functionality
• Works great with RPGs where you control a character
• Touch screen fits well into the system
• Same system can be applied to other handheld systems
• Prototype only, expensive sale price

This modification may be pushing it, but the prototype is complete for a projectI've always wanted to do; add a touch-screen interface to a non-touch-screen console. The first prototype of this idea has been done for the GameBoy Color, and while the touch-screen interface isn't "true" touch-screen, it's functionality is quite unique nevertheless. What I mean by "true" touch-screen is that the touch panel does not interact with what appears on the screen, this would be impossible without a serious integration of extra chips into the system, as well as designing the software to work for it. On the other hand, this touch-screen interface is not only fully functional, but its design is meant to work for every application that runs on the system.

So what does the touch screen do? Well it's quite simple. Basically the design incorporates a mapping of the GameBoy Color's controls directly to the screen. This particular prototype includes all four directions (left, right, up down) as well as the two action buttons (A, B). Choosing how the controls were to be mapped was completely independent of the panel itself, and the layout of how the controls were mapped is given in the image below. The controls were implemented as logically as possible. For example, iif you would touch on the right portion of the screen, this would send a signal to the system to activate "right" on the d-pad.

The interface is actually quite nice and works very well, especially for games where you have a centred character on the screen to control. "Touching" where the character moves on the screen is quite a unique experience. You can download a sample video of a Zelda game and how Link is controlled across the screen. Puzzle games and RPGs work very well with the modification, while a fast-paced fighting game would just be too much to handle with purely on-screen controls. The mod was also designed so the on-screen controls do not in any way interfere with the existing controls, the two inputs (buttons and screen) are independent and can be used separately or together at the same time. There is also a little drill slot in the system for the stylus to slide in.

This prototype took a lot of time to develop and work out all the hardware nicks. Fitting the touch panel and its connector in the system was a big obstacle on its own, but I managed to even add a front light panel into the system, and stick a custom "Mashmods" GBC screen cover around the touch panel to cover up the work underneath. It's quite cool that there are three layers of screens in this system from the LCD -> Front light panel -> touch-screen panel as well as the printed cover, making this one fully-loaded and turbo-charged GameBoy Color.

In theory this mod is possible for any console, from the GBA, to GP32, to even an old-school system. Imagine a GameGear with a touch-screen panel! However, the project was fairly expensive with the components themlseves costing around $50 and hours of actual modification time. The GBC prototype is being sold, with a fairly expensive price tag to accomodate the part costs as well as development time.

Additional.Images

	Touch screen in action!
	You gotta have a stylus. Front light switch on the right side of the system as well.
	The guts of it all
	A lil touching in the dark

Product.Downloads